Skip to content

Salisbury teacher's yoga classes target body dysmorphia among girls

BBC Two girls stand against a wall smiling and holding pink yoga matsBBC
Yoga pupils Gracie and Hailie

A teacher is running yoga sessions to encourage schoolgirls to re-engage with PE lessons.

Jamie Davies, from Salisbury, leads the classes at Gillingham School, in Dorset.

He said there is a "real issue" with body dysmorphia, which causes persistent worrying about appearance, meaning many girls dislike PE.

A recent survey from the Youth Sport Trust shows the gap in enjoyment of PE between boys and girls is widening.

Some 59% of girls in secondary schools said they liked PE or liked it a lot, compared with 84% of boys.

The girls' proportion in the same survey in 2016 was 74%, whereas for boys it has remained stable.

Gillingham School is trying to reverse the trend by offering a range of activities including rock climbing and bouldering, mountain biking and walking, as a way of keeping pupils active.

The yoga sessions have proved a hit with many of the girls who attend.

Mr Davies, who is also Head of Year 7 at the school, qualified as a yoga instructor last year and delivers sessions to both staff and pupils at the school.

Yoga class members pose in child's pose on their mats in a studio
The classes aim to reverse the trend for girls disliking PE lessons more than boys

He said: "This fits into activity for life, really, because this is something that wherever they go, wherever they work there will be yoga classes.

"I've always done yoga. My mum did yoga and so I wanted to share that passion and the benefits of yoga with the students in my school.

"We have a lot of students with body dysmorphia and there's a real complex and that's why they're so disillusioned by PE.

"Here it's non-threatening, I show them the moves. Whether they do it or whether they don't do it is entirely up to them."

Man stands against studio mirror holding a pink yoga mat
Jamie Davies hopes the yoga classes will give the girls the confidence to keep at the sport

Gracie is in Year 11 and about to take her GCSEs and said the sessions allow her to de-stress and feel "involved".

Hailie who is also in Year 11 said yoga has also helped her with her exam revision.

She said: "It's really important to me because I did put a lot of pressure on myself.

"Everything got quite a lot, but now that I've got yoga in the mix I just feel so much better. Revision is so much easier."

Presentational grey line

Follow BBC West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: [email protected]